Jennifer Starr

A Little Christmas Spirit Pick Me Up...

Hi Blog Readers,

I feel like I should post something...to try and keep my faithful blog readers engaged. But the truth is... ever since the beginning of the month, I feel like all of my creative energy flew out the window. I feel just complete numbness and a little down and I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because this year has been a non-stop rollercoaster ride... and the coaster if finally slowing to a stop. Perhaps it because this will be our second Christmas without my mother-in-law Barbara. I feel a big sense of responsiblity to try and make the holidays special for my family, but I realize the only thing that it really important is us being together. My husband's strength still continues to amaze me. It's weird, there are certain times when you'd think I'd be the holiday "cheerleader" but really it's Justin who really gets into the spirit. I've teased him for years.. calling him the "Princess and the Pea".....

because he likes to have everything just right.

Our home is decorated~complete with three different themes & three different trees: "Traditional Christmas" in the living room, "Winter Wonderland" in our bedroom, and we even put out a "Mom Starr" tree on our front patio ~complete with tons of little ornaments that help us to keep her spirit a part of Christmas.

Christmas Cards are out ~ finally and hopefully they will arrive to friends and family before Christmas. I can't decide if they're cute or just totally weird..oh well.

Baking~ yeah, I've never done Christmas baking...I would like to, but I fear having all those treats in my house.... Maybe next year.

Gifts~ gifts are all purchased and almost all wrapped.

Friday Night ~ Justin and I will celebrate "Our Christmas" together, just the two of us...one of my most favorite holiday traditions.

Saturday~ We well head down to CG to spend Christmas Eve with my mom, dad, and brother. This will be a first for us. We've always spent Christmas Eve at my Grandma and Grandpas, but this year we changed a 60 year tradition and celebrated last Saturday. So who knows that the five of us will actually do on Christmas Eve Night...

Sunday Morning ~We will wake up at Mom and Dad's House, were Santa will have delivered gifts to two 31 years olds, and one 21 year old ~ my poor mom, I promise she will have a grandchildren someday! Later on my Granny and Uncle Gene will join in the fun for some gift opening.

Sunday Afternoon~ we will pick up Trevor from the airport and Shannon will join late Christmas night to for our "Starr Christmas"..complete with yummy food, gift openning, many wine spirtzers ~just for you Barb.

Too Legit To Quit ....

What a year! Wow, it has flown....by! I have so much blogging to catch up on it's insane, I'm just waiting on my hubs to get caught up with editing.

Until then, I wanted to take a moment to knock off some of the items on my 101 List, mostly all pertaining to my Passion/Professional area of my list:

#40. Redesign the layout of my personal blog~incorporating more of my personality.
Okay, so truth be told I did this a LONG time ago (perhaps my faithful blog followers noticed...) but I never "checked it off" my list because in my mind it wasn't perfect and there were certain tweaks I wanted to make before actually "checking it off".

Flash Forward Update: In the next few weeks I'm crazy excited to say that I'll be lauching my NEW J.Starr Style Blog...which will be essentially a merge of my personal life and my professional life.

So what does that mean??
~I'll be blogging a lot more for starters, yeah!
~I'll be writing a lot more about my passion as a Wedding Designer, as well as day to day tips on how to enhance and stylize your life and home.
~You will see a lot less personal photos, as my blog will no longer be a "virtual scrapbook" of my life~but I will be uploading all my photos to my picasa account and sending out to our family and friends...(Great NEWS, for those of you who say..."Jennifer never gives us any pictures")

#44. Finalize my company name and structure
Done and done! Ohh Mmm Gee, it takes a lot of work to get a business up and running. But special thanks to my dear friend: Matt Wheeler... as he spent one morning and afternoon driving me into downtown Phoenix to 1.) Register my business name with the Arizona Secretary of State 2.) Took me to the state revenue agency to obtain my tax identification number. I then later followed up with setting up my business account with my bank and registered with Chandler for city taxes.

I decided on the name: "J.Starr Stylized Weddings & Events" a little over a year ago...for several reasons..
1.) People had been calling me "J.Starr" since my first date with Justin
2.) I have worked in the wedding industry for several years and I have made several contacts, my thought is that it only made sense for me to use my name and create a brand off of who I am.
3.) It's a way cool name.

#45. Get my OWN awesome website launched!
This happened quite some time ago...around February of this year. But me, being the freak I am...is not totally 100% in love with it and I'd still like to make some changes..but I keep reminding myself..."It's about progress, not perfection Jennifer"...but in case you haven't seen it check it out: www.jstarrweddings.com

#48. Have one of my client's wedding/event featured in a local magazine (for coordination & design)
This was so fun! Last June AZ Weddinngs released their new magazine and I was highlighted as a Wedding Designer. This was extra special to me because I truly adore the bride and groom! (As seen above)

Love this!

Feeling so tired lately... coming off of wedding season, Thanksgiving, and My Birthday...but there's nothing like a brand new age to get you re-focused on important goals...............I'm loving this quote!

# 12 Done!

Wow, what a project! I can now happily cross # 12 off my list!!!

In February of 2010 we threw my Grandparents a 60th Wedding Anniversary Party....and it was so very special. Ever since then...I've wanted to have the "home footage" that we captured that day, transferred to a DVD.

Plus I really wanted to take it a step further.... In in addition to the footage transfer, I also asked one of my favorite wedding videographers, Richard Talbot to take the still photos that Justin and captured that day, and mix in the "home video footage" all added to my Grandparents Song....Sentimental Journey.

I also had Richard also include on the DVD; the slideshow (Justin created) that we played at the party, along with the two sets of interviews I did with my Grandparents prior to the party, along with the full length video edit from that day. I'm so thankful for my dad and mom (as they funded this project)... and so appreciative of Justin and Richard's help with the product.. I know this will be some precious memories that we will be able to enjoy for a lifetime. I can't wait to give all my relatives their copies of the final DVD.

My sweet grandma had been hospitalized the past few weeks for a bad fall she had taken.... however now she is at home and is recovering. We were able to give this gift to my Grandpa and Grandma on Thanksgiving...and it was such a joy to see them view it... they were giggling like two teenagers in love.

Click Here to View the Highlight

( Enter password: JimJane! )

Palmer Family Welcome's Baby Kayla

Our friends Andrea and Jessy welcomed their new baby girl Kayla into the world past summer.

Here she is with her proud big brother...Ryan

Some father-son bonding time.. how stinkin cute is this photo?

Sweet Girls...

Tough Boys...

Proud Little Palmer Family!

We Love You Guys!!! Congratulations on your beautiful little girl!!

Amen!

Addie's 30th Birthday

This past August my little Addie Flo Jo turned the Three-O......

We actually celebrated this milestone twice with her. Once with her family down in CG (sadly no photos from that night) and again on her actual bday with friends (the photos you see here)

Addie invited us all to meet up at this really chic little restaurant called:

Canteen on Mill Ave.

It was a work night for most....so Addie and I had some time together.... just to two of us, before everyone showed up...which was when we solved the world's problem...as usual.

I love you girlfriend, Cheers to a great year ahead!!!

Thinking of You Today....

Life has been sooooo busy lately....with my full time job, and now (thankfully) Justin's full time job, and each weekend (both of us) having at least one to two Social Grace/Still Life or J.Starr Stylized Event gigs... and then throw in family and friends gatherings... and every day of the week is fully booked.

When life gets this crazy (typically twice a year March & November) I find myself starting to go Mad Hatter Mad!! I start to become crazy critical of myself and unrealistic of time, exhausted, and then I just SHUT DOWN.

That was me yesterday... I couldn't so much as make a "to do" list...

So, today..... I have my mom on mind. She's the hardest working woman I know.

Rather than talking, stressing, over-analyzing, obsessive list making...she just keeps moving....she moves constantly.... always doing something...

So today I'm thinking of my mom.... and I just going to keep moving...

I love you Mom!

Fun Times at the Valley Ho

Melissa's 30th Birthday Celebration Continues... this time "Girls Only"

Melissa's sis in-law, Heather coordinated an overnight celebration at the retro glam Valley Ho.

The dj spinned poolside as we cooled down on that very hot August day.....

Then we hit the town, with dinner at Olive & Ivy in Scottsdale

Followed by after dinner drinks and desserts at Postinos...

And the night ended with a slumber party as we watched the movie "Bridesmaids"

Thank you Heather for planning such a fun night!

And, thank you for sharing these fab photos....

(it was so nice not to have to be the one(s) taking photos that night, muah!!)

And this marks off....# 19 on my 101s:
Spend the day at the pool with a girlfriend drinking cocktails

Royal Palms...J.Starr Style

This past August "J.Starr Stylized Weddings and Events" coordinated a goregous wedding at the Royal Palms. I was very fortunate to have a lovely assistant, Miss Melissa to help on this very hot summer day.

The groom reminded me so much of Justin by how organized and detailed he was... making our jobs very easy. I kept telling Melissa that night.. "most weddings aren't this easy"...

The staff at Royal Palms was wonderful... I loved how they filled nearly every area of the banquet building with candlelight, I was very impressed.

The bride and groom had booked me for coordination only on this gig, so I didn't do any of the designing...but I helped them select nearly all of my "Starr Style" vendors including... Still Life Studios ~photography, VeeRonna Ragone ~harpist, Lisa Berger~ hair, Shawn Geranen~make up.

I'll be posting more highlights and photos from this wedding on my J.Starr Blog~ which will finally be making it's debut at the start of the new year, stay tuned!!!!